Hancock's 'voyage' brings him to Chicago
Legendary jazz pianist performs at Symphony Center with musical greats DeJohnette and Holland

Robert Zuckerman/Verve Music

By Mark Anderson
Associate Editor

Jazz greats Herbie Hancock, Jack DeJohnette and Dave Holland have played together before, most notably back in 1968 when they were all part of the legendary Miles Davis band that recorded In a Silent Way, often referred to as one of the most important and influential albums in all of jazz. More recently, they teamed up with guitarist Pat Metheny as part of DeJohnette’s 1990 Parallel Realities album and tour, and on Hancock’s own 1995 effort, New Standard.

So it’s no surprise that the three players—pianist Hancock, drummer DeJohnette and bassist Holland—share an affinity for each other along with a close musical connection. But just how close that connection remains was displayed recently in Chicago during the second of two concerts headlined by Hancock, surely one of the more revered and accomplished names in jazz. Following a show a week earlier during which the pianist revived a collaboration with saxophonist Wayne Shorter, Hancock, DeJohnette and Holland’s April 16 show at the Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave., was startling in its level of musical ability and sophistication, while still managing to push the boundaries of modern jazz and, yes, occasionally swing.

Hancock’s ability to generate moments of both delicate introspection and complex improvisations has long been a trademark of his outstanding talent, and the Chicago native offered up clear examples of both during the nearly two-hour show. Starting off with Cole Porter’s “I Love You,” the trio set up the song’s melody only briefly before embarking on a daunting path of abstract expressionism that only occasionally revisited the song’s themes. Holland’s bass playing provided intriguing counterpoints to Hancock’s single note runs and insistent chordings while DeJohnette played around with the beat. A more subdued Hancock composition, “Sonrisa,” followed to set up the evening’s structure between ballads and more up-tempo tunes, with bassist and drummer once again skillfully supporting the song’s Latin feel.

Perhaps the best-known song of Hancock’s entire career was among his first, in the guise of 1962’s “Watermelon Man” from his debut album, Takin’ Off. Somewhat re-imagined in 2004, the song’s piano-based introduction drew on touches of gutbucket and Congo Square before settling into the familiar, somewhat funky feel of the original. A seeming excursion into the unknown came later in the form of Holland’s tune “Pathways,” a composition only recently picked up by the three. After a simple bass theme to start, the piece found Hancock taking off on more improvisational flights of fancy, while DeJohnette occasionally leapt to the forefront with extraordinary assurance and feeling.

In fact, it was difficult at times to ignore the drummer—so engaging and sublime was his playing. Throughout the set, DeJohnette alternated between sensitive accompaniment and swinging polyrhythms, never managing to get in the way even while spraying accents throughout an up-tempo number or utilizing exotic percussion in more delicate moments. Holland, too, showed why he is among the genre’s very best practitioners, throwing off lightning fast runs while continually managing to anchor the action throughout, breaking out warmth and dexterity on his occasional solos.

Closing out the set were two seemingly diametrically opposed pieces, a breakneck version of Stevie Wonder’s “You’ve Got It Bad Girl,” and the title track from Hancock’s 1965 classic, Maiden Voyage, offered up as an encore. Even on the Wonder piece, in the fastest tempos of the evening, Hancock never strayed into dissonance or cacophony, while DeJohnette and Holland matched his energy and attack. A quiet and ethereal piano solo then segued into the evening’s encore as Hancock explored spaces between notes and went deep inside the song’s structure to open up the beauty and stateliness of the melody.

For Chicago natives (DeJohnette is from here, too, while Hancock bestowed honorary Chicagoan status on Holland in his opening remarks), none of these three players, singularly or collectively, visit their hometown often enough. Hancock remains one of jazz’s most important figures, and a direct link to some of the music’s most revered and important innovators. That he plays a venue like the Symphony Center may speak more to the complexity and sophistication of his music than to his “headliner” status, but hardly justifies his long absence from Chicago’s music scene. And despite the seemingly commercial death jazz is suffering in today’s marketplace, the packed house on a Friday night proved that Chicago, at least, remains ready to support challenging, first class music.